Billie Jean King & Ilana Kloss

Billie Jean Moffitt King  (born November 22, 1943) is an American former World No. 1 professional tennis player. King won a total of 39 Grand Slam titles through out her career; this includes 12 singles, 16 doubles and 11 mixed doubles titles. Additionally King won the first ever WTA Tour Championships and was a three time winner of the doubles event. King is an advocate for sexual equality and won The Battle of the Sexes tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973 and was the founder of the Women's Tennis Association, World Team Tennis and the Women's Sports Foundation.

She married Lawrence (Larry) King in Long Beach, California on September 17, 1965. The couple divorced in 1987. By 1968, King realized that she was interested in women, and in 1971, while still married to Lawrence King, she began an intimate relationship with her secretary, Marilyn Barnett. King was forced to acknowledge the relationship when it became public in a May 1981 "palimony" lawsuit filed by Barnett (later dismessed by a judge), making King the first prominent professional female athlete known to be a homosexual. King said that she had wanted to retire from competitive tennis in 1981 but could not afford to because of the lawsuit.

King is very involved in the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. She says "I believe in the missions of these two organizations because they are about helping others, and making a difference in the lives of those around us. I’m also serving on the President’s Council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition because I feel that we have to find a way to keep our country—especially our young people—active."


Former tennis player Billie Jean King (L) and her partner Ilana Kloss (R) arrive at a state dinner at the White House October 13, 2011 in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama hosted a state dinner in honor of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his wife Kim Yoon-ok. (October 12, 2011 - Source: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America)
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player. She won 12 Grand Slam Singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King is an advocate for sexual equality and won The Battle of the Sexes tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. She confessed in 2007 that she had concealed her sexuality for so many years because her parents were homophobic. She is now in a relationship with Ilana Kloss, former professional tennis player.

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Stern, Keith (2009-09-01). Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals (Kindle Locations 6979-6986). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

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Cathy Hamill & Shaku Bhaya

Shakuntla L. Bhaya met her partner Cathy Hamill in 1982. “They said it wouldn’t last,” jokes Shaku Bhaya. Shaku and Cathy were certainly in different places in life when they met – Cathy was a single mom, raising two boys with no child support and doing shift work at the Getty oil refinery. Shaku was a University of Delaware student. And they didn’t exactly rush into things either; although they were a couple from the start, it would be twelve years before they finally began living together. But they are still together today.

Shaku is involved in many civic activities and she is also an attorney. Cathy is the co-chair of the most active advocacy group in the state of Delaware for abused and neglected children. Cathy is one of three or four people without whom Delaware would likely not have made the significant changes it made in the late 1990s to its child protection system.

Cathy and Shaku also helped raise a son together – Josh, Cathy’s nephew, who came to live with them under difficult circumstances when he was six years old. They adopted him when he was twelve.

Source: mattdenn.blogs.delaware.gov/2011/03/

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M.L. Rhodes (born March 22)

Hi! I'm M.L. Rhodes and I predominantly write gay male romance and erotic romance. I've written some straight romance/erotic romance also, as well as books in other genres, but my focus now is entirely on gay romance because, quite frankly, I'm passionate about it! I love to write it and I love to read it.

I live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with my physicist husband, two teenage boys, two dogs, four cats, two hamsters, and dozens of fish.

I do all my writing on a MacBook Pro that travels around the house and, in warm weather, outside with me. In the summer my favorite place to write is on the swing on my deck surrounded by ponderosa pines and aspen trees.

In the winter, and often well into the spring, the outside writing forays aren't usually an option, since the deck is often buried under several feet of snow. It's not unusual for us to have snow like this well into April.

I've been writing for almost fifteen years. The first book I ever wrote and had published was a young adult novel. Since then I've had over two dozen novellas and novels published, with a dozen more in the works over the next couple of years. I never run out of story ideas, only out of time to write them all!

Source: http://www.mlrhodeswriting.com

Further Readings:

Falling by M. L. Rhodes
Paperback: 230 pages
Publisher: Amber Quill Press, LLC (January 26, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1592797016
ISBN-13: 978-1592797011
Amazon: Falling
Amazon Kindle: Falling

As the leader of an elite British group that hunts criminals of the magic world, Christian Wetherly comes to the U. S. undercover, posing as a British cop, to investigate a series of murders he suspects have been committed by a dark mage. He never expects, however, to find himself intensely attracted to the American police detective in charge of the case. Christian has long struggled with his hidden desires and hasn't admitted them to anyone. But Alec Anderson stirs something deep within him that's difficult to ignore.

Still...even if he could master his fear of coming out, Christian's dedicated himself to protecting the world from magic terrors. It's a dangerous life an ordinary human could never understand or accept. And to complicate matters, Alec's emotionally vulnerable, still grieving the death of his previous lover, a fellow cop killed in the line of duty. So Christian's determined to keep his true occupation and powers hidden from Alec.

Neither man can deny the powerful chemistry that burns between them, and both realize they're falling hard for one another, yet with so many secrets and complications, a relationship seems impossible.

When the two men becomes the target of the dark magic, however, and clues about an ancient legacy come to light that indicate Alec may not be exactly what he seems, can they find the strength to tear down all the barriers between them and risk their hearts in order to save each other's lives?

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Sean Kennedy (born March 22, 1975)

Sean Kennedy was born in 1975 in Melbourne, Australia, but currently lives in the second most isolated city in the world (although there still seems to be conjecture over whether it is actually number one). Living in such deprived circumstances can only affect his writing, which is published by Dreamspinner Press.

Source: http://seankennedybooks.com/

Further Readings:

Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy
Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (March 9, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935192450
ISBN-13: 978-1935192459
Amazon: Tigers and Devils
Amazon Kindle: Tigers and Devils

Football, friends, and film are the most important parts of Simon Murray's life, likely in that order. Despite being lonely, Simon is cautious about looking for more, and his best friends despair of him ever finding that special someone to share his life. Against his will, they drag him to a party, where Simon barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler -- unaware that the athlete is present and listening.

Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, Victoria, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are deemed gods and treated as such - until they do something to cause them to fall out of public favour. Declan is suffering a horrendous year of injuries, and the public is taking him to task for it, so Simon's support is a bright spot in his struggles. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other's lives forever.

As Simon and Declan fumble toward building a relationship together, there is yet another obstacle in their way: keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret amidst the intrusion of well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media. They realise that nothing remains hidden forever... and they know the situation will only become more complicated when Declan's private life is revealed. Declan will be forced to make some tough choices that may result in losing either the career he loves or the man he wants. And Simon has never been known to make things easy - for himself or for others.

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

James Mischka & Mark Badgley

Badgley Mischka is an American fashion label designed by Mark Badgley and James Mischka. Badgley and Mischka went to New York City's City Hall on March 22, 2013, to make their 28-year union official. The designers first met while students at the Parsons School of Design and launched their label in 1988 (followed by bridal, a category for which they would become internationally renowned, in 1993). They have since dressed everyone from Oprah to the Olsen twins in luxe evening wear.

James Mischka began at Rice University as a biomedical engineering major and ultimately graduated with degrees in art history and managerial studies in 1985. Badgley and Mischka met at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, and found a common vision. The two launched the label Badgley Mischka in 1988, though their bridal business launched in 1993. Badgley and Mischka are partners in life and business. Their clothes have been worn by many celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, Melissa Etheridge, and Tammy Lynn Michaels.

Badgley Mischka's looks are described as "red-carpet-destined evening wear" but generally produced with lighter fabrics and less construction. They are also known for fragrance, handbags, shoes and eyewear.

In September 2006, Badgley Mischka announced that Sharon Stone would replace Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as spokesperson. In August 2007, it was announced that Teri Hatcher will be in the Fall 2007 campaign.

Badgley Mischka is also responsible for designing the second wedding dress worn by Kristin Davis as Charlotte York on Sex and the City. They also designed the dress Gossip Girl character Ivy Rhodes/Charlie Rhodes (Kaylee DeFer) wore in a debutante ball to welcome her into New York City high society.


Badgley Mischka is an American fashion label designed by Mark Badgley and James Mischka. Badgley and Mischka went to New York City's City Hall on March 22, 2013, to make their 28-year union official. The designers first met while students at the Parsons School of Design and launched their label in 1988 (followed by bridal, a category for which they would become internationally renowned, in 1993). They have since dressed everyone from Oprah to the Olsen twins in luxe evening wear.



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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badgley_Mischka

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Carol Anshaw & Jessie Ewing

Carol Anshaw (born March 22, 1946 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan) is an American novelist and short story writer. Her books include Lucky in the Corner, Seven Moves, Aquamarine, and Carry the One.

When Anshaw was growing up, her family divided its time between Michigan, where her father was a contractor, and Ft Lauderdale, Florida. In 1968 she moved to Chicago, marrying Charles J. White III in 1969 (they were divorced in 1985). Since 1996, Anshaw has been in a relationship with photographer, filmaker and teacher Jessie Ewing. The two divide their time between Chicago and Amsterdam.

Her stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories in 1994, 1998, and 2012. She acquired her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts (1992). She has won a National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, an NEA Grant, an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, a Carl Sandburg Award, a Ferro-Grumley Award and Society of Midland Authors Award.

Anshaw teaches in the MFA in Writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

She is also a painter. Currently she is working on a sequence of paintings of the novelist and poet, Vita Sackville-West.


Carol Anshaw, Jessie Ewing, Hilma Wolitzer, Morton Wolitzer. Resilience Gala Pen Faulkner Award for Fiction. Photo by Alfredo Flores. Folger Shakespeare Library. September 10, 2012
Carol Anshaw is an American novelist and short story writer. Her books include Lucky in the Corner, Seven Moves, Aquamarine, and Carry the One. When Anshaw was growing up, her family divided its time between Michigan and Ft Lauderdale, Florida. In 1968 she moved to Chicago, marrying Charles J. White III in 1969 (they were divorced in 1985). Since 1996, Anshaw has been in a relationship with photographer, filmaker and teacher Jessie Ewing. The two divide their time between Chicago and Amsterdam.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Anshaw

( Carol Anshaw by Robert Giard )

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More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Anthony Perkins, Grover Dale, Stephen Sondheim & Tab Hunter

Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor. Perkins was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his second film, Friendly Persuasion. He is best known for playing Norman Bates in Psycho. His other films include The Trial, Fear Strikes Out, Tall Story, The Matchmaker, Pretty Poison, and The Black Hole.

Perkins was born in New York City, son of stage and film actor Osgood Perkins and his wife Janet Rane. He was five when his father died. Perkins was a descendant of a Mayflower passenger, John Howland. He attended The Brooks School, The Browne & Nichols School, Columbia University and Rollins College, having moved to Boston in 1942.

Perkins made his film debut in The Actress (1953). He received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor and an Academy Award nomination for his second film, Friendly Persuasion (1956). The tall (6'2") Perkins also portrayed the troubled former Boston Red Sox baseball player Jimmy Piersall in the 1957 true story Fear Strikes Out.

Following this, he released three pop music albums in 1957 and 1958 on Epic and RCA as "Tony Perkins". His single "Moon-Light Swim" was a hit in the United States, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957. He starred with Shirley Booth and Shirley MacLaine in the film The Matchmaker (1958).


Grover Dale is an American actor and dancer. Dale was involved in a 6-year relationship with actor Anthony Perkins that ended in 1973 when he married Anita Morris and Perkins married Berry Berenson; Dale and Morris remained married until Morris's death in 1994 and they have a son, actor James Badge Dale. In 1999 Dale founded the website, Answers4Dancers.com, whose stated goal is "to empower dancers and choreographers to think, to grow, and to create satisfying careers for themselves..."


According to an unauthorized biography by Charles Winecoff, Anthony Perkins had affairs with Christopher Makos, actor Tab Hunter, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and dancer-choreographer Grover Dale prior to marrying Berenson. Perkins co-wrote, with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the screenplay for the 1973 film The Last of Sheila, for which they received a 1974 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.


Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931) is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films. Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson, before settling down with his partner of more than 30 years, Allan Glaser. Hunter's 2006 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star became a New York Times best-seller as did the paperback edition in 2007.


AIDS Quilt

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Perkins

Grover Dale (born July 22, 1935) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer and theatre director. Dale was involved in a six-year relationship with actor Anthony Perkins that ended in 1973 when he married actress/singer Anita Morris; they remained married until Morris's death in 1994. Their son, actor James Badge Dale (born 1978), played the role of Simon in the 1990 film Lord of the Flies, Chase Edmunds in the TV series 24, and is the lead actor in Rubicon.

Dale was born Grover Robert Aitken in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Ronal Rittenhouse Aitken, a restaurateur, and Emma Bertha Ammon. He studied dance with teacher Lillian Jasper in McKeesport, Pennsylvania from 1945 to 1952 before he appeared in his first professional job in with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in 1953.

Dale's Broadway stage debut was in the 1956 musical, Li'l Abner as a dancer. He appeared in the original cast of West Side Story as Snowboy, a member of the Jets gang. Other stage credits include the role of Andrew in Greenwillow, in which he also understudied Anthony Perkins as Gideon Briggs; in Noël Coward's Sail Away, where he had the juvenile lead role of architect Barnaby Slade; and in Half a Sixpence, where he played Pearce, one of a quartet of 19th century London shop apprentices around whom the show is structured. He made his film debut in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. He also appeared in Half a Sixpence, The Young Girls of Rochefort, and The Landlord.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Dale

Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American composer and lyricist known for his contributions to musical theatre. He is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. Described by Frank Rich of the New York Times as "now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater", his most famous works include (as composer and lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. (

P: Autographed publicity photo of Stephen Sondheim, ca 1970)

Sondheim has been described as being extremely introverted, a largely solitary figure. He has stated that he doesn't believe in marriage. He came out as homosexual in the 1980s and did not live with a partner until he was 61. This was Peter Jones, a dramatist; they lived together for several years, until 1999. In an interview with Frank Rich, Sondheim said that "the outsider feeling – somebody who people want to both kiss and kill – occurred quite early in my life."

Since 2004 he has been in a relationship with Jeff Romley (born 1978). Romley, Sondheim says, works 'in cyberspace. He is a great joy in my life.’


Stephen Sondheim  with Jeff Romley.
Stephen Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist. Sondheim has been described as being introverted, a solitary figure. He has stated that he doesn't believe in marriage. He came out in the 1980s and did not live with a partner until he was 61, in 1991, with Peter Jones, a dramatist; they lived together for several years, until 1999. In an interview with Frank Rich, Sondheim said that "the outsider feeling – somebody who people want to both kiss and kill – occurred quite early in my life." Sondheim's current partner is Jeff Romley.


British stage and film actor, director, dramatist and racconteur Peter Ustinov with Peter Jones as they record Ustinov's impression of a German professor giving a lecture on Mozart, 1953.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sondheim

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More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Blog Tour: Dance Off by Ariel Tachna & Nessa L. Warin

Dance Off By Ariel Tachna & Nessa L. Warin
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (March 20, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Dance Off

On the reality show Dance Off, pro rugby player Olivier Gautier and Olympic swimmer JC Webster each have one goal in mind: to stay on the show as long as possible to earn his charity of choice maximum exposure and a larger donation. As the competition heats up, their goals expand to catching each other's interest, but Olivier is firmly in the closet and plans to stay there. JC is willing to be discreet, but not to hide forever.

Starting a romance with another man is challenge enough for any celebrity, but doing it under the microscope of reality TV—and one majorly intolerant costar—is even harder. Add in meddling dance pros, JC’s overbearing family, and the need to play up chemistry with dance partners to win America’s hearts, and JC and Olivier’s time together is looking more and more like a recipe for disaster.

As the pressure to stay in the competition mounts, JC and Olivier must face their inevitable separation at the end of the show as well as decide whether a relationship as complicated as theirs can survive in the real world, outside the bubble of the set and practice studios.

( Excerpt )

Author’s Bio: Ariel Tachna lives outside of Houston with her husband, her daughter and son, and their two dogs. Before moving there, she traveled all over the world, having fallen in love with France, where she met her husband, and India, where she hopes to retire some day. She’s bilingual with snippets of four other languages to her credit and is as in love with languages as she is with writing.

Author Links:
Website/Blog: http://www.arieltachna.com/
FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ArielTachna
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arieltachna
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/865450.Ariel_Tachna

Nessa L. Warin lives in a fantasy world that’s mostly inside her head, though her physical address is in southwestern Ohio. Her two cats kindly play along with her fantasies and graciously let her pay all the bills, but they do require her to provide pampering on a regular basis. Nessa enjoys exploring the wonders of this world through travel—something her cats strongly disapprove of as it cuts into their pampering time—and can find whimsy in the most mundane places. When the real world becomes too much, Nessa enjoys dressing in costume and going to Renaissance Festivals and fantasy conventions. A short trip to either does wonders for her state of mind, so she makes sure to attend at least one of each a year. These trips help Nessa add to her collection of faerie and dragon art, and she swears she will frame and hang all the prints she’s collected some time soon.

When she’s not living in a fantasy world, Nessa enjoys tasting and learning about wine, particularly since it’s one of the few things she and the rest of her family agree on. She’s a regular at the wine tastings held by her local wine shop, and considers it a sin for her wine rack to have more empty spots than full ones. She’d prefer her wine rack to be filled with Pinot Noir, Malbec, and Syrah, but one of her favorite things about wine is the way it can always surprise her. More than once she’s been taken aback by which wine she likes best at a tasting, and she loves the way her wine rack illustrates the joys of trying new things.

Author Links:
Website/Blog: http://nessa-l-warin.livejournal.com
FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/nessalwarin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nessalwarin
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3272236.Nessa_L_Warin

Giveaway:
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Secrets and Demons by Daniel Devine

The book was really short, maybe in a way even too short. The plot was nice and catching right from the beginning, high school student new in town from an loving and adjusted family meets the school paria, the anorexic, self-imposed mute kid who everyone avoids. Jayden is a romantic at heart, believing in true and forever love, but he is in a way more immature than Liam, above all from an emotional point of view: he doesn't understand that what he feels for Liam is love, and that is funny, cause his parents not only understand it, but are also so good people that aren't against those feelings. Liam too probably understand that he is in love, but he also understand his troubled past can harm Jayden.

As I said, I loved the plot, above all cause, while dramatic, I never felt as it was impossible for these boys to find happiness, probably thank to Jayden's parents who were really perfect. And maybe that was another common feeling throughtout all the book, everything moved really fast and sometime usually overwhelming obstacles were in this case almost null. Instead of a whole story it felt like an appetizer, and I strongly suggest to the author to cultivate these two boys, not only giving them more time together after these current events (college perhaps?) but also maybe revisiting this story and make it a little longer.

And, by the way, catching cover too.

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Kindle: Secrets and Demons

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